Yieldable entry guide for strip-processing line



Dec. 24, 1968 D. E. WESTBURY YIELDABLE ENTR Filed April 28, 1967 INVENTOR DAV/D E. WESTB By W URY Attorney United States Patent 0 3,417,907 YIELDABLE ENTRY GUIDE FOR STRIP-PROCESSING LlNE David E. Westbury, West Chester Township, Porter County, Ind., assignor to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 634,734 1 Claim. (Cl. 226198) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The guide includes a fixed lower guide plate and a resiliently mounted upper guide plate adapted to move vertically toward and from the lower guide plate under the stress of strip accumulated between the plates.

The present invention relates generally to strip processing lines and more particularly to an improved entry guide especially suitable for directing strip material into a pickling line or the like for continuous processing.

While strip entry guides utilized in conjunction with continuous processing lines of the past have generally proved satisfactory, they have, in many respects, fallen short of satisfactory performance when used to guide strip in modern high-speed processing lines. In modern highspeed processing lines, the strip, which is normally fed through the entry guide to a roller leveler of the line, often cobbles and causes a pile-up in the guide. When such piling-up occurs, it has heretofore been necessary to stop the processing line and remove the upper section of the guide in order to remove the piled-up strip. Since the entry guides in use prior to my invention usually comprised separate upper and lower sections which were rigidly bolted to an uncoiler housing, considerable time and energy were expended to remove the pile-up and get the line ready to resume operation. Often, the severe 'shock transmitted to the bolts of the entry guide by a strip pile-up after a cobbler had occurred would cause the bolts to be sheared oif, thus making it necessary to weld the guide sections in position before operations could be resumed. Prior to my invention, such difficulties caused numerous production delays and added to the costs of processing strip.

It is, accordingly, the primary object of my invention to provide an entry guide having a yieldable upper guide section or surface which is adapted to move upwardly or yield when a cobble and subsequent pile-up occurs, and which will automatically resume its original position relative to the pass line of the strip processing apparatus when the pile-up is removed.

This and other objects will become more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical sectional view of an uncoiler housing of a strip processing line having the entry guide of my invention incorporated therein; and

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line II-II of FIGURE 1.

3,417,907 Patented Dec. 24, 1968 ice Referring more particularly to the drawing, reference numeral 2 designates generally an uncoiler housing of a continuous strip processing line. Housing 2 is provided with a pair of pinch rolls 4 for feeding strip S from a supply coil C to a roller leveler 6.

The apparatus thus far described is conventional and is not claimed as my invention, the details of which will now be described.

The entry guide of the invention, designated generally be reference numeral 8, is disposed between the pinch rolls 4 and the entry end of the roller leveler 6, and includes a fixed lower guiding surface 10 rigidly connected to the uncoiler housing below the pass line of the strip by means of bolts 12. The upper guide surface 14 of the entry guide 8 is carried by brackets 16 and extends between two upright side walls 15 of the uncoiler housing 2. Each of the brackets is connected with and depends from an angle section 18 which in turn rests on the upper portion of the upright side walls 15 of the uncoiler housing 2. The angle sections 18 each have holes therein for receiving stud bolts 20 which have compression springs 22 circumferentially mounted thereon. The bolts are threaded into the upper surfaces of the side walls 15, as best shown in FIGURE 1. Collars 24 are provided on the stud bolts 20 at both ends of the compression springs 22. Adjustable stop nuts 26 are threaded on the upper ends of each of the stud bolts 20 for holding the compression springs 22 in place.

With this arrangement, the brackets 16, together with the upper guide surface 14, are yieldable and capable of rising during a pile-up of strip when a cobble occurs. The shock of strip piled-up or accumulated between the upper and lower guide surfaces of the entry guide 8 will be absorbed by the compression springs 22. When the pile-up is removed from the entry guide, the compression springs 22 function to force the angle sections 18 together with the brackets 16 and upper guide surface 14 downward to normal position above the pass line.

Although I have shown but one embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

1. A yieldable strip guide for a strip-processing line comprising a pair of spaced upright supports disposed in substantial parallel relation one on each side of said stripprocessing line, a fixed lower guide plate extending between said supports below the path of strip along said processing line, a bracket resiliently mounted for vertical movement on each of said supports and extending toward said fixed guide plate, and an upper guide plate carried by said brackets and extending between said supports spaced above said lower guide plate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,137,068 6/1964 Quigley 83-447 X 3,175,430 3/1965 Smith et al. 83-447 X ALLEN N. KNOWLES, Primary Examiner. 

